[4] In August 1773 he embarked from Huahine on the British ship HMS Adventure, commanded by Tobias Furneaux, which had previously touched at Tahiti as part of Cook's second voyage of discovery in the Pacific.

Mai travelled to Europe on Adventure, arriving at London in October 1774 where he was introduced into British society by the naturalist Sir Joseph Banks (whom he had also met during Cook's first voyage).

[6] Banks regularly invited Mai to dine with the Royal Society and arranged meetings with notable celebrities, including Lord Sandwich, Dr Samuel Johnson, Frances Burney and Anna Seward, among others.

Mai returned to Huahine in August 1777, where Cook built him a European-style house, and provided furniture, gunpowder weapons, a vineyard, and two Māori boys as servants.

During the Bounty's visit to Tahiti in 1789, Captain Bligh was told that a couple years after Cook's departure in November 1777, Mai had died.